“Completely overwhelmed” is how Darianne Johnson describes the situation for social service agencies in Dickinson, ND., where an influx of workers are looking for jobs in the state’s booming oil industry.

Johnson runs the local domestic violence program and shelter. In the past she sometimes gave homeless families emergency shelter as well. Now she says domestic violence cases are up 65 percent since June, and there’s no room for sheltering anyone but victims of domestic violence.

In the past six to nine months, the shortage of housing in Dickinson has become a crisis, Johnson says.

Some people are homeless and looking for work, but others have jobs and simply can’t find a place to live. New apartments are being built, but Johnson says rents are very high and in many cases landlords require a high credit score to rent.

Local agencies report as many as 60 contacts a week with people who are homeless. One recent contact was a single dad with two teenage sons.They were sleeping in their van. Johnson says she knows of a case of as many as 30 people living a house.

In the past, Johnson says, social service agencies were always able to help people in need. Now she says it’s not possible to help everyone something she finds “extremely frustrating on a daily basis.”